New Delhi: A component of reclamation of water logged areas under the command area development programme was introduced by the Ministry of Water Resources. So far 482 schemes of nine states namely Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerela, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh have been approved for reclamation of 63556.49 ha. Water logged area.

Out of this, an area of 50249 ha. has been reported to be reclaimed by these States upto March 2008. During 2008-09, 4 schemes of Orissa covering 209 ha of waterlogged area for reclamation have been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs. 38.52 lakh.

Although development of irrigation has increased agriculture production, it has also caused adverse effect in the form of water logging and associated problem of soil salinity/alkalinity in many irrigation commands. The problem of water logging can be mitigated to a large extent by efficient water management and by adopting suitable preventive measures. However, in spite of best efforts, the problem of water logging has surfaced in many irrigation commands and thus it is essential to reclaim such areas so as to have optimum agricultural production from them.